News 09/27/16

Firearms need to be locked up in cars under a new law signed by the governor. This in response to some major thefts out of police vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was one of four gun bills the governor signed and is the latest in a line of bills approved this year to rein in gun violence. The Gov. also veto’d a couple other gun bills. Beginning in 2017 anyone with a concealed weapon permit has to lock it in a trunk or it has to be in a container that cannot be seen. Police are included in this.

A new law the governor has signed allows Californians who see an animal locked in a hot car can break a window to let them out and will not be prosecuted. This is only the case if there’s no other way to get the animal out of the vehicle. Rescuers are allowed to break into the car if the animal looks to be in peril, the car is locked or law enforcement wasn’t there fast enough. The person who breaks the window does have to wait for law enforcement to respond.

A toddler’s been killed by a stray bullet as the child rode in a car in Northern California. Another person was killed the day before the Sunday night shooting in Stockton too. Police say a man was killed and another was hit by gunfire at a shopping center Saturday, but police say they don’t think the two were related incidents.

Another stage of development moves forward for the proposed expansion to the Cache Creek Casino Resort. The resort in Brooks, off Hwy 16, is owned by the Yocha Dehe Wintun (Yoka Dee-Hee Win-ton) Nation that’s on federally owned land held in trust. The tribe wants to add more than 400 more rooms to the already, 200-room resort, which opened in 2004. There would also be a new pool and lounge area and a giant ballroom. The tribe turned in new documents to the county which doesn’t have power to allow the development on federal land.

2 people have been arrested on suspicion of pimping and pandering during a sting. Police say the human trafficking operation to find and rescue runaways used in sexual exploitation. The women were brought to Woodland and don’t live in the city but were put in touch with a group that helps abuse victims. The sting last Thursday at a motel in Woodland. But several law enforcement agencies were involved in the sting. Gregory Carvalho of Sacramento was arrested on a parole violation. And Preston Gray of Vallejo was also arrested on felony charges of pimping and pandering. The two booked into Yolo County Jail. The women with them were not arrested.

The Governor Jerry Brown signing a bill into law to help rural health clinics (RHCs) and federally qualified health centers bring in more qualified licensed marriage and family therapists and let them work with Medi-Cal. Assemblyman Jim Wood authored the bill which he says will bring access to mental health care services essential to people’s well-being.

Improved access to broadband technology has been signed into law by the Governor. Assemblymember Jim Wood’s (D-Healdsburg) legislation requires Caltrans to inform any company or organization working on broadband deployment like Redwood Coast Connect Consortium and the Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County to inform Caltrans. The bill instructs companies to work with Caltrans so broadband conduit can be included as part of each project. It also calls for Caltrans to put together guidelines to facilitate broadband conduit installations by 2018 on state highway rights-of-way.

A driver in Southern Calif. busted for using a mannequin as his passenger so he could drive in the carpool lane. The Orange County Register reports (http://bit.ly/2d5N3Sh ) Brea police finding the mannequin Friday in a truck on the 57 freeway during traffic. Apparently the driver veered out of the carpool land into a motorcycle cop who noticed the passenger, not really a passenger.

The Sawmill Fire is about 45 percent contained. The 1500-acre fire is burning in the Geysers, about 10 miles east of Cloverdale and has so far not moved into Lake County Territory. Cal Fire says it is challenging terrain with difficult access in an area that’s extremely dry due to five years of drought. The high temperatures and low relative humidity are added to the difficulty. Mandatory evacuations continue for residents in the Geysers. Calpine’s geothermal power facility also had to be evacuated – a spokesman says all employees are accounted for, the plant was not operating at the time so there was no power disruption, and their other facilities in the Geysers are not affected. Cal Fire says they don’t yet know what started the fire, which was first spotted Sunday morning.

The Preliminary hearing continues for two of three drifters accused of killing a former Middletown Yoga Instructor in Marin County last year. The Marin County Superior Court Judge holding the hearing to decide whether Lila Alligood and her boyfriend Morrison Lampley should both go to a jury trial for the murders of Steven Carter on a walking trail and a backpacker named Audrey Carey a few days earlier in Golden Gate Park. The third suspect, Sean Angold, pleaded guilty in May to second-degree murder in connection to Carter’s death and is expected to testify this week against Lampley and Alligood. Police alleged Lampley was the shooter in Carters’ death. Lampley and Alligood’s attorneys say Angold was the mastermind and they were just following along.